Addressing the Anti-Defamation League's Never is Now summit, Baron Cohen took aim at Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg who in October defended his company's position not to ban political adverts that contain falsehoods.

"If you pay them, Facebook will run any 'political' ad you want, even if it's a lie. And they'll even help you micro-target those lies to their users for maximum effect," he said.

"Under this twisted logic, if Facebook were around in the 1930s, it would have allowed Hitler to post 30-second ads on his 'solution' to the 'Jewish problem'."

Baron Cohen said it was time "for a fundamental rethink of social media and how it spreads hate, conspiracies and lies". He also questioned Mr Zuckerberg's characterisation of Facebook as a bastion of "free expression".

"I think we could all agree that we should not be giving bigots and paedophiles a free platform to amplify their views and target their victims," he added.

Facebook has not commented on the remarks.

Earlier this month, an international group of lawmakers called for targeted political adverts on social media to be suspended until they are properly regulated.

The International Committee on Disinformation and Fake News was told that the business model adopted by social networks made "manipulation profitable".

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